Women Are Not Powerless Research Paper

1549 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Portrayal of women in greek and roman mythology

Women Are Not Powerless

Josh Samuels
Hofstra University
CLL 039
Professor Keller
15 May 2017

Women Are Not Powerless
Studying the plethora of Greek literature throughout this semester has elicited a variety of ideas and general perceptions of what type of lifestyle characters in mythology had to live. Through our readings there have been a number of scenarios and circumstances that give a general idea of the ideals and values that dictated mythological society. Conducting further research on the templates you provided us for research gave me an opportunity to explore elements of mythological Greek culture that interest me very much. These pieces of literature create a vivid description of society and only raise curiosity …show more content…

This type of treatment is displayed in many ways throughout The Iliad. As described in The Iliad book II, “as things are, the argives will take flight homeward over the wide ridges of the sea to the land of their fathers, and thus they would leave to Priam and to the Trojans Helen of Argos, to glory over, for whose sake many Achaians lost their lives in Troy far from their own native country” (Lattimore, 2011, p. …show more content…

She is described as “the mind of a bitch and deceitful nature” (Walcot, 1984, p. 41). These characterizations stem from a story when Zeus was deceived into making an ill-advised decision by Titan Prometheus. He wanted revenge and as a result he “retaliated by having the first woman Pandora prepared and presented to Prometheus stupid brother Epimetheus” (Walcot, 1984, p. 40). Unfortunately, going against Zeus’s advice, Epimetheus was too infatuated with her beauty and as a result could not resist temptation. Pandora then went on and “removed the lid from a storage jar which housed all the evils afflicting mankind” (Walcot, 1984, p.41). Hence, the characterization of “Beautiful Evil” (ibid). However, this is not the only act of deception in Greek mythology as a product of seduction. Zeus was also deceived by Hera, through the art of seduction. As described in The Iliad, “But Hera, light-footed, made her way to the peak of Garagos on towering Ida. And Zeus who gathers the clouds and saw her, and when he saw her desire was a mist about his close heart as much as on that time they first went to bed together and lay in love, and their dead parents knew nothing of it.” (Book 14, p.

Show More
Related

  • Women and Deception in Homer's Odyssey

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    As Agamemnon tells Odysseus, “Let it be a warning even to you. Indulge a woman never, and never tell her all you know. Some things a man may tell, some he should cover up” (Book XI  199).  This is not news to Odysseus, who treats all women with caution ever since he was betrayed by his wife Helen, who acted in a way that defiled all womankind. Agamemnon did not come to this realization all by himself, however; his statement represents the common sentiment that existed throughout all ancient Greece. Even before Odysseus speaks with Agamemnon, he exhibits a similar attitude in his many encounters with women during his long journey home. Every major female character that Odysseus comes across uses deception in one form or another to get the better of him. This being the case, Odysseus fights fire with fire, using his own cunning deception against the evils of womankind.

    Read More

  • Fitful and Changing: Femininity in Virgil's Aeneid

    803 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a child, I was fascinated by Greek mythology and history, and I made it my business in elementary school to read as much as possible about the subject, including the outstanding stories and the pantheon of gods presented. I thought of them as fantastic, supernatural tales with fitful gods and brave heroes, and I never stopped to consider that the mythologies could be representative of the cultural views and habits of the Greeks, specifically regarding gender roles. One such representaton is Virgil's epic Aeneid, which contains depictions of women in positions of power, and also characterizes these women as irrational, emotional to the point of hysteria, and consequently, unfit rulers.

    Read More

  • Goddesses, Whores, Wives, And Slaves: Women In Classical Antiquity

    1877 Words  | 4 Pages

    This paper will discuss the well published work of, Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975. Print. Sarah B. Pomerory uses this book to educate others about the role women have played throughout ancient history. Pomerory uses a timeline to go through each role, starting with mythological women, who were called Goddesses. She then talks about some common roles, the whores, wives, and slaves during this time. Pomerory enlightens the audience on the topic of women, who were seen as nothing at the time. Men were seen as the only crucial part in history; however, Pomerory’s focus on women portrays the era in a new light.

    Read More

  • Important Role of Women in Homer's Odyssey

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each—through her vices or virtues—helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks. Before we delve into the traits of individual characters, it is important to understand certain assumptions about women that prevailed in the Homeric Age. By modern standards, the Ancient Greeks would be considered a rabidly misogynistic culture. Indeed, the notoriously sour Boetian playwright Hesiod-- who wrote about fifty years before Homer-- proclaimed "Zeus who thunders on high made women to be evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600).

    Read More

  • Hephaestus In The Odyssey

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    He was worshipped particularly in manufacturing and crafting fields, especially in Athens. Hephaestus crafted many creations, most notable being Pandora. According to Hesiod, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a women irresistible to man or god. Zeus planned revenge against Prometheus, a titan who mocked Zeus. She was molded from Earth and water and once her body was ready, The Four Winds breathed life into it. She was given all of the gifts from the gods. Aphrodite gave her beauty, grace, and decisive. Hermes gave her a cunning mind and a clever tongue. Athena clothed her and gave her nimble hands. Poseidon gave her a pearl necklace that would prevent her from drowning. Apollo taught her to play the lyre and sing. Zeus gave her a foolish and mischievous deposition. Finally, Hera gave her the gift that would lead to her downfall, curiosity. Pandora was born and descended down onto earth along with a beautifully gilded box from Zeus with a warning never to open it. She married Epimetheus, Prometheus brother who warned him not to accept a gift from Zeus, as he was aware he was still mad at him. Epimetheus so enchanted by Pandora ignored his brother and married Pandora anyways. The gift of Hera’s curiosity finally got the best of Pandora and she opened the box; releasing sickness, death, turmoil, strife, jealousy, famine, and evil. Pandora was a pawn in Zeus’s game of revenge. Pandora weighed down by her actions was left with hope, the only good virtue Zeus hid in the box. From then on hope would be in every man, for when life’s evils weighed him

    Read More

  • Prometheus And Pandora's Box Quote

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Jupiter realized that Prometheus had given the mortals fire, he was outraged. “But one day, when he chanced to look down upon the earth, he saw the fires burning, an the people living in houses, and the flocks feeding on the hills, and this made him very angry.” (Paragraph 17) Jupiter was furious when he realized that the mortals would gain strength and become more powerful. He was so worried that he decided to punish all of mankind by creating a wife for Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother, with curiosity and a box. She was called Pandora, and when she opened the box, she unleashed great terrors upon them

    Read More

  • Odysseus Is A Role Model Essay

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were rich women, goddesses, and monsters. Penelope which is Odysseus's wife was a very faithful and loyal woman. While Odysseus was fighting in the Trojan War for twenty years, Penelope stayed loyal to him even when the suitors came over to help her. However, goddesses, such as Circe, and monsters, such as The Sirens used their body and beauty to trick the men into sleeping with them. It seemed to me as if they were searching for love in all the wrong places.

    Read More

  • Women in The Odyssey

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The nymph Calypso enslaves Odysseus for many years. Odysseus desires to reach home and his wife Penelope. It is the goddess Athena who sets the action of The Odyssey rolling; she also guides and orchestrates everything to Odysseus’ good. Women in The Odyssey are divided into two classes: seductresses and helpmeets. By doing so, Homer demonstrates that women have the power to either hinder of help men. Only one woman is able to successfully combine elements of both classes: Penelope. She serves as a role model of virtue and craftiness. All the other women are compared to and contrasted with Penelope.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Role Of Women In The Odyssey

    1568 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The women in “The Odyssey” dictate the direction of the epic. Homer the blind creator may have contrived the story with the aim to depict a story of a male heroism; but the story if looked at from a different angles shows the power women have over men. The Sirens and women that posses the power of seduction when ever they are encountered take the men off their course, and lead many to their death. The power women in the Epic pose can be seen from the goddess all to the wives. From The nymph Calypso who enslaves Odysseus for many years posses all the way back to Penelope who many argue is of equal importance to

    Read More

  • Theme Of Guile In The Odyssey

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Among mortal women, Penelope is shown as a very powerful employing both seduction and being clever at the same time. Even though she doesn’t possess the power to rid the suitors from her house because she’s a woman, she does deter her marriage to the eager suitors for quite some time. although Penelope is a very influential and clever figure she is still secondary to men as shown many times by her son, Telemachus who orders her around, “INSERT QUOTE HERE.” Penelope is guile and demonstrates this in many ways throughout the epic. The loom shows the queens tactics and her cleverness, “ INSTERT QUOTE HERE”. Her shrewdness allows her husband more time to return home. Also, Penelope is shown to have a sense of destiny and is shown with her contest with the bow and arrow. She is aware that only Odysseus can string the bow and therefore chooses a task that would be impossible for anyone but her husband. Her seductiveness is much like the Sirens; she appeals to the suitors promising to marry one of them but with no desire to fulfill either side. Antonius, is one of her more persistent suitors describes Penelope as, “This three-year past, and close on four, she has been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging each one of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she says” (Book II). In this situation Penelope is tested against the suitors and comes out

    Read More

  • Differences and Similarities of The Women of Athens and Sparta

    1843 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women in antiquity did not have an easy lot in life. They had few, if any, rights. Surviving early records of the civilizations of antiquity from ancient Greece, Egypt, China, and Rome suggest the diversity of women’s roles differed little from region to region. There were a few exceptions, mostly concerning women of nobility and the city-state of Sparta. Excluding the rare instances mentioned most antique women were generally limited on education, mobility, and almost all possibilities interfering with domestic or childbearing responsibilities. The limited social roles of women in antiquity suggest the perceived c...

    Read More

  • Role of Women in the Odyssey

    1575 Words  | 4 Pages

    “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view” (Ibsen). This saying also applied to the times of the Odyssey, an epic constructed by the blind, eight century B.C.E. poet, Homer. As one of the few representatives of ancient Greek social order, the blind, Homer witnessed women as substandard to men, regardless of their actions; many of them existed as seductresses, prostitutes, or slaves. He engraved into his poem women’s roles; the roles of women, as mothers, wives, seductresses, and goddesses are exemplified in this epic, when shown in comparison to the men of that era.

    Read More

  • The role of Women in Greece

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    Greek women, as depicted as in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of man and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was by far more impressive than what men did.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Greek Mythology

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Role of Women in Greek Mythology In learning about the feminist movement, we studied the three articles, discussed and reviewed the different authors perspectives on the topic, and learned how important the role of woman in Greek mythology is. In presenting the feminist theory to the class, we analyzed the three articles, Women in Ancient Greece; Women in Antiquity: New Assessments; and Women in Greek Myth, and discussed how although the three articles provided different views on Feminism in mythology, they all essentially are aiming to teach the same basic concept. In order to understand the feminist theory, we have to understand the notion that although myths are invented and that they involve fantasy, the concept of mythology does not necessarily imply that there is no truth of history in them. Some of the humans may have lived while some of the events may have taken place. Most importantly, the social customs and the way of life depicted in the myths are a valuable representation of Greek society.

    Read More

  • Treatment of Women in Ancient Literature

    2408 Words  | 5 Pages

    Walcot, P. “Greek Attitudes towards Women: The Mythological Evidence.” Greece & Rome 2nd ser. 31.1 (Apr., 1984): 37-47. Cambridge University Press on Behalf of The Classical Association Article Stable. Web.

    Read More

More about Women Are Not Powerless Research Paper

Open Document